The Second Assistant

An east coast woman relinquishes her political aspirations when offered a job in the center of the entertainment universe known as Hollywood. She learns what is and is not acceptable in Tinsel Town while rubbing elbows with the rich and famous at lavish events most people only dream of attending. The Second Assistant portrays a woman's journey as she fights to keep her morals and ethics in tact in a town where everyone's out for themselves and only the strong survive.

Elizabeth Miller, uprooted from the political lifestyle she has always known, finds herself in Hollywood, performing numerous thankless tasks for her gambling/drug-addicted boss, Scott. Halfway through the story, the first assistant, Lara, basically abandons all assisting duties to write a novel, leaving Elizabeth to learn the ropes herself through trial and error. 'Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore,' comes to mind as Elizabeth struggles with conflicting feelings of wanting to fit into the Hollywood mold, or give up and go back to Washington, DC before she becomes another Hollywood statistic. Her journey is certainly not without any minor set-backs and job-threatening disasters, but by the end of the novel, Elizabeth proves she has what it takes to hang with the big boys.

The Second Assistant introduces the audience to characters one could only find in Tinsel Town, but keeping them all straight is no small feat. While Scott hardly embodies role-model qualities, by the end of the novel he shows that he really is a decent guy in his own way. There are too many names swirling around Elizabeth's love life that the reader finds his/herself flipping back to determine which guy she's talking about now and the cast of female characters is almost as impossible to remember. The novel is entertaining, but somewhat predictable. While the readers can laugh at the situations in which Elizabeth finds herself, it's obvious that she will somehow find a way to beat the system.

Authors Clare Naylor and Mimi Hare, an industry veteran, have created a vivid picture of what Hollywood life is like for those people who see only the side of the industry portrayed in People Magazine or Entertainment Weekly. Readers are introduced to characters and events that would almost be unbelievable if not told from the experiences of people who know. The Second Assistant is enough to encourage anyone with aspirations to become a part of that world to just stay at home, but the novel also illustrates that success can happen there if one just embraces it rather than trying to beat it.